Power cuts throw life out of gear

NOIDA: Power cuts lasting around four hours in Noida on Sunday left hundreds of residents in a dozen sectors in disarray.

Supply was disconnected around 11am, which residents complain was a dampener to their weekend plans.

Despite repeated assurances by the power corporation, outages have continued to affect the city well after the summer months.

"Apart from scheduled cuts, there are sudden undeclared outages that throw life out of gear for residents. The discom also does not seem to have streetlighting work on its list of priority," said SM Singh, president of Federation of Sector 62 RWAs.

Residents are angry over outages becoming common even during winters when demand for electricity is generally low. "It is understandable that loadshedding has to be undertaken at times of high demand, but outages in winter are inexplicable," said N P Singh, president of Federation of Noida RWAs.

As per Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited, supply had been snapped to overhaul machinery at the 132KV substation in Sector 62 and make it fit for the harsher summer months ahead.

Officials said power supply to over a dozen 33/11KV substations, fed from the Sector 62 substation, had been withheld for around four hours when maintenance work was underway.

"A bus-bar in the substation was replaced as it worn out over the years. The replacement was done to avoid tripping of supply during high load summer months next year," said an official.